One Year On
by lozzylaur
Summary: A Carla and Peter story based on the film 'One Day'. Were will they be on the anniversary of the tram crash in the years that follow? Together, a family or will the challenges of everyone else tare them apart?
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first fan fic for Coronation Street. Its a one shot about Carla and Peter, its quite a happy fic. Might consider doing some some more chapters, depends how much people like this one. _

_Please read and review, let me no what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcomed._

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><p>It was the second anniversary of the tram crash, a day that from experience was not successful for Peter. Two years ago today he nearly died married a woman who had been having an affair, a woman who never truly understood him. One year ago today he fell of the wagon, got drunk instead of speaking about the friends he had lost, spent the night with a woman who understood everything about him.<p>

A year on however Peter knew as he lay there watching the clock turn 00.01, today would be different. Closing his eyes he breathed in his favourite scent one last time before falling into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning Peter woke up, he pulled her closer to her, if that was possible and kissed her firmly but lovingly on her forehead. He smiled as he opened his eyes and looked down at the most beautiful woman he had seen sleeping happily in his arms. He felt her stir in his arms, sensing she was comfortable again he stroked her hair admiring her. He loved mornings like this, when there was no rush for them to get to work, when they could enjoy each other's company, where they could lay in each other's arms for as long as they wanted.

'Peter.' It was barely a whisper but he heard it, he knew she was awake.

'I'm here love,' He replied with a smile.

'Good.' She followed with kisses up his chest until she found his mouth, her eyes were still closed but she didn't need to look, she knew his body to well by now. It was etched on the inside of her eyelids, like a map.

As she found his mouth they shared a passionate kiss. They both smiled as they pulled apart, looking into each other's eyes.

'I love you Peter Barlow,' She whispered, her voice still husky from sleep.

'I Love you to.' He replied, sealing with a kiss. She lay back on his chest, once comfy she traced circles on his chest. They stayed like that for another half hour until they both felt the need for breakfast.

'Come on, I want breakfast.' She smiled pulling Peter up with her.

'What do you want?' he asked, still lay in bed while he watched her move about the bedroom looking for clothes to wear.

'Let's go out.' She called out, with her head stuck in the wardrobe. 'You once said to me when everyone knew about us we could go to Roy's Rolls and have breakfast. So let's go.' She finished pulling out what she was looking for from the wardrobe.

'I will take you and show you of if that my dear is what you want?' he replied, smiling at the sight of his beautiful girlfriend in her underwear.

'No, we can't go anywhere.' She moaned trying tops on and throwing them at Peter when she didn't like them.

'Why, what's wrong?' He asked as climbing out of bed dodging another top.

'They don't fit, none of them fit.' She cried falling into his arms tears falling down her face.

Pulling her face up to look at him he spoke gently, 'Carla love, your beautiful but maybe now would be the time to buy some new clothes, you are five months pregnant but hey, you look hot in that, I'm sure Roy wouldn't mind.'

'Ok, let's go.' She teased pulling him towards the door still in just her underwear.

He picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist he carried her back into the bedroom, standing her in front of the wardrobe again he picked out a top he knew would fit her. 'Put this on, I'm taking you for breakfast then shopping. I'm not having this every morning for the next four months.' He finished with a soft kiss on her neck.

An hour later they were sat fully clothed in Roy's chatting over breakfast. Holding hands over the table they smiled at each other.

'How you holding up?' Carla asked seriously.

'I'm brilliant.' Peter replied pretending not to know what she was talking about. One look though told him to be honest, words weren't always needed. 'I'm better than last year, I haven't thought about having a drink. Honestly, I feel good. Seeing you in your underwear definitely helped.' He whispered the last part making her laugh.

Happy she got a truthful answer she changed the subject.

'Hey.' Came a cheery voice

'Hey 'Chelle. How you doing?'

'Well you know, busy at work while the boss has breakfast.' She teased.

'Well feel free to join us for breakfast, I'm sure the boss won't mind.' Peter replied.

'Are you kidding? Get back to work; someone's got to pay for my shopping trip.' She smiled before motioning for Michelle to sit down.

'Shopping and breakfast out. Carla Connor your one lucky lady.'

'Indeed she is.' Peter joked while Carla just smiled.

Several hours later, Peter was sat outside some changing rooms waiting for Carla to finish trying on whatever it was she was trying on. He had lost interest to be honest. He had never been very interested in clothes shopping, he had hated it with Leanne and Carla was much worse. He should have guessed no one looked as good as her without spending hours looking around shops.

Finally she walked out of the changing rooms, her hands full of coat hangers; she passed a few to the shop assistant and carried the rest to Peter. Smiling she kissed him, 'Clothes fit me, they actually make clothes to fit me.' She told him excitedly.

'Shocking, I mean you are huge, biggest I've seen I think.' He teased taking the clothes from her and going to pay for them.

'Right we need to get going or were going to be late picking Simon up.' Peter spoke after paying for her clothes. Carrying the bags in one hand he took Carla's hand in the other and walked out of the shop. Talking and laughing they walked to Simon's school in time to pick him up.

'Hi Dad, Carla.' Simon greeted them cheerfully.

'Hey mate, what you got there?' Peter replied to his son referring to the piece of paper he was holding carefully in his hand.

'It's, erm… for you… Carla.' He replied looking at the woman who crashed into his life less than a year ago turning it all upside down. Handing her the card nervously he waited for her reaction.

'Thanks Simon.' Carla spoke genuinely touched by the child who she was slowly starting to build a relationship with. She took the card from him turning it over delicately she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

'It's me, you, dad and the baby. Open it.' He asked hopefully.

Opening the card Carla found a small piece of paper which she realised was a ticket to go watch Simon's Christmas play at school. Inside the card read: Carla I'm sorry, you're alright really. Please will you come watch my play, Simon xx.

More tears were flowing down Carla's face now.

'Carla, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.' Simon spoke concerned he had upset her. Peter took the card off her, wondering what could have made her cry.

'No Simon, you haven't upset me.' She finally spoke, crouching down to give the little boy a hug. 'It's beautiful, thank you.'

'No problem, besides you might be able to keep Dad under control; he doesn't have a good track record.' He replied cheekily receiving a tap on the back of his head from his dad.

The three of them walked home talking and laughing, stopping halfway at a park.

'Can we play football for a bit?' Simon asked showing off his best puppy dog eyes whilst taking his football out of his school bag.

'Not now mate, we should probably get home.' Peter replied much to his son's disappointment.

'There's nothing to rush home for, you two play a bit of football. I'll sit and watch.' Carla replied kissing Peter before getting comfy on the bench.

Carla smiled to herself as she watched Peter and Simon run around the field laughing and play fighting. She rubbed her ever growing belly wondering how her life will change when her baby's here. The possibilities filled her head, the dreams she had for the little person growing inside of her and she wondered if all new mums felt like this. She wondered how many of these dreams would come true and how much it would matter to her if they didn't. One thing she was sure of was that she would never treat her child the way her own mother had treated her, her baby would never feel unwanted and unloved. That was a promise she had made to the little being as soon as she had found out about it.

'That kids got far too much energy for me.' Peter spoke as he sat down next to Carla disrupting her thoughts.

'Yer well, you need to get used to it, will be even worse when you've got two to run around after.'

'That's true.' Peter smiled holding her hand which was still resting on her bump. 'But I wouldn't change anything, not even for a second.'

Carla smiled as she leant into Peter's body. 'Neither would I.' she whispered.

Later that night once Simon was in bed Peter and Carla lay in their own bed with their bodies entwined.

'How was today then Mr Barlow?' Carla asked breaking the comfortable silence.

'Perfect, seems like this day gets better and better each year that passes.' He replied kissing her softly on the top of the head.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, so I know I said this would only be a one shot but then I had the idea for some more chapters and after the lovely reviews I got I couldn't resist trying to write them. Basically it's going to be based on the idea of the film 'On Day' which if you haven't seen is about where two friends are at on the same day each year. As you can probably guess it will be about Carla and Peter and what they do on the Tram crash anniversary each year.

So here's chapter 2, hope you all enjoy it.

Please excuse and spelling mistakes, I got a bit excited about publishing it and as it's my story I get to decide about ages so in this Chapter Simon is 10, meaning he would of been 7 when the tram crash took place, sorry if that's not his real age.

Please read, review and enjoy. :) xx

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><p>Peter smiled as he looked down at the sleeping angel in front of him. He couldn't help but smile every time he looked at her, the older she got, the more like her mother she became. There would be plenty of people around the street who would think of another Carla Connor being close to a nuclear disaster but for Peter it was amazing.<p>

He looked up at the clock on the wall realising it was gone midnight, it was that day again. The one day of the year that really made Peter take stock of what he had to live for, what the real important things in his life were.

He pressed a soft kiss on his daughters head before walking back in the bedroom to join his girlfriend and get some precious sleep. He smiled as she curled into his body as usual, like the missing piece of a jigsaw being put into place, they were a perfect fit and he knew that. He kissed the top of her head before turning out the bedside light and falling to sleep.

Peter woke up to the smell of bacon cooking and the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. He smiled to himself as he lay there, not moving, not opening his eyes just listening to the songs and laughter that filled the kitchen, to him it was his favourite song.

'Dad, look what we made you.' called an excited Simon he walked into the room carefully holding his little sisters hands helping her to walk. The pair where followed by Carla who was carrying a tray full of pancakes, various toppings and drinks.

'Thanks son.' Peter smiled before picking up his daughter and sitting her on the bed 'Who's a clever girl then?' Peter cooed kissing his daughters head.

'Thanks babe.' Peter smiled as Carla placed the tray down on the bed before climbing under the covers and serving out the food. Sophie was nearly 10 months old and was doing exceptional well after being born six weeks early. The first few days of her life had been spent in the special care unit and had been the scariest time for both Carla and Peter; they had no idea if she would even survive. Thinking back to those days made times like this even more special for him.

'What you want to do today then son?' Peter asked Simon.

'Carla said we could go to the zoo.'

'Erm Carla said we will have to ask your dad if we can go to zoo young man.' Carla interrupted pretending to be cross with her step son but failing greatly.

'Can we dad please.' Simon asked looking at his dad with his best puppy dog eyes.

'I suppose a trip to the zoo isn't completely out of the question.' Peter replied looking out the window and realising it didn't look too bad for a December morning.

'Yay.' Simon shouted causing Sophie to smile and clap, something she had learnt to do whenever Simon got excited. 'See even Soph's excited about going. I'm going to go get changed.'

'I don't think you are. You need to eat some breakfast first Si.' Carla replied grabbing him by the waist before he could run out the room and ticking him causing more screaming from Simon and more clapping from Sophie.

'Ok, ok. Can I have banana on my pancakes please.'

'What you mean like a monkey?' Peter replied to his son 'Hey Car, maybe we could leave him there. Might get a bit of peace and quiet.' Peter joked.

'Hey, that's not fair.' Simon pretended to pout which caused Sophie to do attempt to do the same.

'Excuse me Mr, will you stop teaching your sister to be stroppy, she takes after her mum enough without you helping.' Peter joked before Carla threw a cushion at his head.

Three hours later and the family were washed, dressed and finally at the zoo. Peter smiled as he watched his family looking at the animals. Carla was carrying Sophie while Simon was explaining the animals to her and making various noises.

'Dad, look.' Simon shouted interrupting Peter from his thoughts.

'Yer son, aren't they cute.' Peter smiled at the family of Gorillas Simon was fascinated by. Simon loved all the animals but the monkeys were his favourite.

'Do you think they will let us have one of the babies? It could sleep in Sophie's room we could get it a cot like her. She would love it.' Simon asked getting carried away.

'Simon you are not putting a monkey in the same room as your sister, you want one it stays in your room.' Carla interrupted Simon's ramblings about which toys he was going to buy the baby gorilla.

'That's fine by me, do you think Luigi would fit in my draw?'

'Who?' Peter asked confused.

'Luigi, that's what I'm going to call him.' Simon replied in the matter of fact way 10 year olds speak in.

'Of course you are.' Carla added slightly concerned Simon actually thought he was getting a gorilla as a pet.

'So do you think he will?' Simon asked getting annoyed by the lack of enthusiasm his dad and Carla were showing.

'Look Si, maybe a gorilla's a bit challenging for a first pet and I think the rest of the gorillas would miss him. Don't you think?' Carla paused hoping Simon wasn't to upset yet. 'So maybe we could look into getting an easier pet, like maybe a dog?' she finished hopeful this would be a compromise.

Carla knew she was the reason Simon wasn't allowed a pet and she knew how desperate he was. She was starting to feel bad for the boy and had begun to warm to the idea of having a pet. They had moved into a bigger house just before Sophie was born which had a small garden. It was just around the corner from Coronation street, close enough to still be close to all the important places but just far enough away from the judgemental eyes they were used to.

'Carla are you serious?' Simon screamed hugging her tightly before running up to his dad.

'Yer Car, you sure about this?' Peter asked not wanting his girlfriend to feel she was being pushed into anything.

'Yer why not? I mean as long as you promise to walk it every day and feed it and one of you will have to clean up after it because that is one thing I am not doing.'

'I will I promise, can I call it Luigi?' Simon asked hopeful 'Can we go get one now?'

'No you can't call it Luigi because I'm not walking round the red wreck shouting Luigi and I thought you wanted to look at the animals in the zoo.' Peter asked.

'I did, but I've seen them before and I want to go look at puppies. What can I call it then?' Simon asked getting more and more excited.

'Look Sophie's hungry and so am I so how about we go get some lunch and I'll have a look on my phone at puppies in the area. Sound like a plan?'

'Yer, come on.' Simon replied before running off to the café.

'What do you think babe?' Carla asked kissing Peter on the lips.

'I think you're amazing and I love you.' Peter smiled as he watched his son jumping up and down impatiently.

A couple of hours later Carla had found some Labrador puppies for sale close by and they were on their way to have a look. Simon had never stopped talking about getting a puppy, whether it was various names, none of which Carla or Peter agreed to, or what he was going to do with it or buy it.

'Simon, why don't we wait till we see the puppies before we decide on a name, you might not even like them.' Peter interrupted needing a break from his sons constant talking.

'Of course I'll like the puppies dad, why wouldn't I?'

'Yer Peter, why wouldn't he?' Carla laughed at her boyfriend's failing battle to calm down his sons excitement. 'Listen Si, why don't you write a list of all the things the puppy will need and if you like them your dad can go to the shop and get them.'

'Ok, thanks Carla.' Simon smiled before starting work on his list.

'Yer thanks Carla.' Peter replied mockingly in Simon's voice earning him an unimpressed look in reply.

'Wow can we have more than one?' Simon asked excitedly.

They had been looking at the puppies for nearly half an hour and neither of them could decide which one they liked the best, even Carla was surprised by how much she liked them.

'No, you can have one and that's all. Can you pick soon before the shops shut and we don't have anything for it.' Peter replied getting slightly bored of looking at puppies.

'I can't decide though, there all so cute.'

'What about that one?' Carla asked pointing to the puppy which had been asleep on Simon's foot for the past 10 minutes.

'Yer this one. I like this one.' Simon replied picking the puppy up excitedly. 'Can I call him Smurf?'

'Smurf, why Smurf?' Carla asked amused by his choice of names.

'Well because he's small obviously.'

'Yer obviously, but you do realise he's going to grow up don't you.' Peter added.

Later that night once the children and Smurf had been fed and put to bed Carla and Peter were enjoying some alone time. Peter was laid on the sofa with Carla cuddled into him stroking his arm softly. They were half watching some programme about aliens but mainly they were focused on each other.

'So Mr Barlow, how has this year been for you?' Carla asked softly looking into his eyes.

'Amazing, three years ago I was at rock bottom, literally I was under a pile of rocks.' Peter joked though Carla sensed the painful truth behind it.

'And now?'

'And now I have everything, two amazing children, the most beautiful woman in the world and a dog called Smurf.' Peter chuckled before closing the gap between their lips passionately kissing her.

'I love you Carla Connor.' He smiled giving her one last kiss.

'I love you to Peter Barlow.' Carla replied.

'It's been a busy day, I think I'm going to go to bed. You coming?'

'Yer let me just lock up, will be up in a minute.'

Peter walked into their bedroom and over to the wardrobe, he searched in one of his shoes before pulling out a small box. He opened it, smiling at its contents. It had taken him and Michelle ages to pick a ring that he had thought would go some way to match Carla's beauty. He had brought the ring almost two weeks ago but wanted to wait till this night to ask her, at first he had planned to take her out to a fancy restaurant, make it really romantic and special. That was until he thought back to their first 'date' when Carla had told him she didn't need romantic gestures, she had had them all. It was then that he realised there was nowhere more special than their home where they were going to bring up their children and spend the rest of their lives together.

Hearing her footsteps coming up the stairs he put the ring in his pocket before going to sit on the bed. He had gone over and over this in his head and this was the best idea he had come up with.

'Hey, I thought you would already be in bed.' Carla spoke softly.

'Yer, I'm going to but first I think we need to talk.' Peter replied in a serious tone. 'Something's just not right.'

'P…Peter what do you mean?' Carla replied nervously sitting down on the bed next to him.

'Well you see, the more I think about it, the more it gets to me. Carla it just needs to change.' Peter continued in the same serious tone.

'Peter you're really starting to scare me now, just tell me what you're talking about.'

'Ok well here goes.' Peter spoke soften his tone slightly before getting of the bed and onto one knee. 'Carla Connor, I love every part of you with all my heart. You're the reason I smile every day, the reason I sleep and night and the reason I barely think about drinking. I can't imagine my life without you and I want to show you and everyone else just how much I love you. So…' Peter paused while he took the box out of his trouser pocket, 'Will you do me the great privilege and agree to become my wife?'

Peter looked at Carla hopefully who had tears running down her face.

'You bastard.' Carla laughed, 'I thought you were going to dump me. I'm not sure if I want to anymore.' Carla spoke seriously.

'Oh, Carla I'm so sorry, I never meant to ups…' Peter was interrupted by Carla's lips crashing into his own. 'Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.' Carla spoke through the kiss before Peter picked her up and spun her around.

'Oh, Peter its perfect.' Carla smiled looking down at the beautiful yet modest diamond ring he put on her finger.

'Just like you.' Peter smiled.

Once they had got changed he couple lay entangled in each other's arms, smiling at each other and sharing kisses.

'I can't wait to 'Chelle, she's going to be made up.' Carla smiled excited to tell her best friend her news.

'Yer, I'm sure it will be a real surprise for her.' Peter replied jokingly.

'Do you mean she knows?' Carla asked surprised.

'Well you're a hard lady to buy for, I needed someone who knew you well enough to help. She was the obvious choice. I'm sure she'll still be happy to hear your news though baby.' Peter kissed her head softly over and over again. 'Now let's get some sleep. I love you Carla Connor.'

'I love you to Peter Barlow, and just think soon I will be Mrs Barlow.' Carla replied excitedly.

'Is that the only reason you agreed to marry me, for my name?'

'No, I agreed to marry you for the party, the names just a bonus.'

They both laughed together comfortable in the knowledge that after so many mistakes and so much heartache they were both finally happy and going to marry the right person.


End file.
